March 16, 2002
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Cian Carvalho hit four free throws in the final 27.1 seconds as Arizona State rallied to beat Wisconsin 73-70 Saturday night in the first round of the Midwest Regional for the Sun Devils' first NCAA tournament victory since 1983.
Ninth-seeded Arizona State (25-8) also tied a school record for victories in a season, matching the 1983 team. The Sun Devils will play either No. 1 seed Vanderbilt or 16th-seeded Oakland.
No. 8 seed Wisconsin (19-12), which lost in the opening round for a third straight year, led by as many as 14 in the first half. The Badgers have not won in the opening round since 1996.
The Sun Devils are used to coming from behind lately. They had to rally in each of their three games in the Pac-10 tournament, including an eight-point deficit against Stanford before upsetting the then-No. 2 team in the country.
They shot horribly in falling behind, hitting only 10-of-33 in the first half. The Sun Devils hit 19-of-29 (65 percent) in the second half.
Arizona State had led only on the opening basket until Melody Johnson, playing with three fouls, keyed an 18-8 run with 10 points. She tied it at 65 with 4:00 left, scored again for a 67-65 lead and put the Sun Devils up 69-65 with her next bucket.
Wisconsin, ranked as high as No. 5 in January, took its final lead on Jessie Stomski's bucket with 47.4 seconds remaining.
Johnson missed a shot on the other end, and Carvalho was fouled by Tamara Moore trying to score on the putback. She hit the free throws for a lead Arizona State would not lose again.
Kyle Black missed a shot driving across the lane, and the rebound turned into a tie-up with Arizona State getting possession. Carvalho was fouled one more time, and she sealed the victory with two free throws with 2.6 seconds to go.
Carvalho finished with a career-high 24 points, Johnson had 18 for Arizona State and Amanada Levens had 13 of her 14 in the second half.
Stomski finished with 19 for Wisconsin, and Moore had 15.